


Little Brothers

by dimesandnickels



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Sad Bill Denbrough, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend, The Losers Club (IT) Love Each Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimesandnickels/pseuds/dimesandnickels
Summary: “I’m so sorry, Georgie!” Everyone froze and looked at Bill in shock, even Richie, though he was still crying.“I mean Richie,” Bill corrected quietly.A scene after Neibolt where Bill and Richie actually deal with what happened during the fight instead of just ignoring it for the rest of their lives.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough & Eddie Kaspbrak, Bill Denbrough & Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris, Bill Denbrough & Richie Tozier, Bill Denbrough & Stanley Uris, Bill Denbrough & The Losers Club
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	Little Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Unnecessarily over-dramatic. Everybody's probably out of character in this.  
> Warnings: a bit of swearing, implied family problems

Nothing makes you think about your relationship with your friends like losing them all in one day. Bill replayed the memory of watching his three best friends leave him behind over and over again as he biked with Beverly toward her apartment.  
First Eddie had left, sitting in his mom’s car with tears running down his face. He and Eddie were for sure best friends, up until an hour ago, but they were also nearly brothers. Bill didn’t feel as protective of him as he was toward Georgie, but he cared about him more than most best friends.  
‘I almost killed Eddie. I almost lost my best friend,’ Bill thought, starting to feel sick. ‘I might never be able to see him again.’  
Richie and Stan were next to leave, because of course they left together. While Bill and Eddie teetered on the edge of best friends and brothers, it was no question that Stan and Richie had crossed that line long ago.  
Those two had a very specific dynamic, Eddie and Bill had decided one day while at the quarry alone. Richie had been sick that day and Stan, who had been watching him, shooed the other two out of his house because Stan had “only just gotten him to fall asleep. You’d think any moron would know to rest. He’s lucky I showed up he hadn’t even eaten yet. I swear I’m the only reason he lived past kindergarten.”  
Bill and Eddie decided that the other two acted like siblings where the older one was more irresponsible, leaving the younger one, and almost everyone else, to think they are actually the birth order is actually switched. Until a crisis of some sort happens and the truth is brought suddenly into the light.  
If you only saw Stan’s fussing over Richie and Richie’s irresponsibility, anyone would conclude that Stan was the older brother in that dynamic. But Bill had seen the look of panic barely masked behind anger that appeared as he threw himself in front of Stan when facing Bowers. He had seen how Richie curled himself around Stan when the other boy had started crying during class for reasons Bill and Eddie weren’t privy to, as though trying to use every inch of his scrawny frame to shield him from the world.  
Sure, Richie was protective of the other two, but that was out of loyalty to Bill as the group’s leader and something Bill couldn’t quite figure out with Eddie. Admiration, maybe? But Richie protected Stan because, even for all Stan’s bossy fussing and scoldings that made people forget, Stan was still his little brother.  
‘At least they have each other,’ Bill thought, but a bitter tone took over his thoughts as he imagined the two of them playing in the quarry while Eddie was on house arrest and Bill was alone in his empty house.  
Bill didn’t quite know how to describe his relationship with Stan. Their relationship didn’t have the same easygoing protectiveness of brothers like Stan and Richie, but there was something more between them that there wasn’t between Bill and Eddie. Bill always put it aside as something he would worry about another day.  
And finally Richie. Bill shook his head to snap out of his thoughts. It didn’t matter how close he and Richie were because it was over anyway. Bill wondered if he’d ever even see Richie again. 

The following months seemed to prove his predictions true. He did see Richie, but they carefully ignored each other whenever they crossed paths in town. Eddie was indeed under house arrest, only allowed out to get his medicine. He knew Stan and Richie were some of the only losers who were still in contact with one another because he heard from a classmate about the drama at Stan’s bar mitzvah. And, with the exception of the occasional visit from Bev, Bill was left in his empty, cold house.  
This, of course, ended when Bev was taken. All of a sudden all seven Losers were stumbling out of Neibolt in one tight knit group.  
Richie, who had refused to let him sacrifice himself, who had been the first to comfort him after discovering Georgie’s raincoat, had long since moved as far away from Bill as possible. While Richie had proven they were still friends and cared for each other, it was clear they still needed to get past the fight.  
They were all stood frozen in the dead grass outside the “crackhouse” as Richie called it, just now processing all that had happened. Bill saw Richie standing between Eddie and Stan, an arm slung around each of their shoulders, staring at the ground exhaustedly.  
Bill approached them slowly. Stan looked over at him, sharp and somewhat haunted eyes trying to read his intentions. Satisfied with what he found, he nodded at Bill and made a ‘let’s go’ motion with his head at Eddie, who had been watching the exchange.  
“Hey, what-” Richie started to say as he was thrown slightly off balance by the sudden absence of his armrests, but froze when he looked up and saw Bill standing in front of him.  
“Richie,” Bill said tentatively as he reached out to grab Richie’s arm or put his hand on his shoulder or anything to convey sincerity. He froze when Richie flinched slightly.  
“Sorry,” Richie muttered, embarrassed by his reaction.  
“No, I-I’m sorry. I w-was angry about th-this whole situation and I t-took it out on y-you.”  
Richie silently glared at the ground a little ways away.  
“Yeah, everyone does,” he said bitterly. He looked up at Bill suddenly, and Bill took a step back in response to the tearful glare leveled at him.  
“What? Rich-”  
“I already accepted I was the world’s fucking punching bag, but you were supposed to be the exception. You were supposed to be my real family and we were supposed to stick together no matter what.” Richie burst into tears. Stan took a step forward but was stopped by Eddie who whispered something to him. Everyone else was frozen in shock, having never seen Richie cry before. Even Richie’s three original friends were surprised to see this side of him.  
“I’m-” Bill started to say before he was cut off.  
“You’re just like everyone else,” Richie cried.  
Bill took a step forward. “J-just-”  
“No!” Richie screamed, causing Bill to jump back. “You’re just gonna apologize and go back to secretly hating me and I-I’m supposed to be o-okay with that!” Richie was starting to hyperventilate, causing him to stumble over words.  
“I’m n-not-” Bill tried again.  
“As soon as I’m not the funny one you leave me behind. Everyone’s going to leave me and forget about me.”  
Bill remembered the last time he saw Richie start to break down. ‘Why am I missing?’ echoed Richie’s voice in his head, sounding like it did now.  
“T-that’s not-”  
“Don’t, Bill.”  
“I-I’m sorry.”  
“No you’re not.”  
“Just listen-”  
“I said don’t. Just-”  
“I’m so sorry, Georgie!” Everyone froze and looked at Bill in shock, even Richie, though he was still crying.  
“I mean Richie,” Bill corrected quietly.  
“Why did you…?” Richie trailed off, looking at the other boy in confusion.  
Bill shook his head, at a loss for words.  
“Richie,” Stan said quietly, though he was looking at Bill with sad eyes. He paused, and Bill imagined him putting the right words together like the puzzles he loved so much.  
Stan smiled sadly and Richie. “I imagine it’s easy to mix up the names of your little brothers.”  
And there was the truth Bill had been trying to ignore the whole time they were apart. He was protective of him in a way he wasn’t with the other two. Well, maybe Stan, but not Eddie. Through all the layers of insecurity and anxiety, Bill knew Eddie was brave and determined. But Richie was care-free and lackadaisical, until you saw that he was unsure and scared.  
Bill didn’t know what he was scared of, though, because the anxiety that seemed to be wearing away at him started long before the clown. That’s why Bill didn’t react to Richie’s jokes like the others. While the others got annoyed, Bill just got sad because something told him it wasn’t always genuine.  
When it came to a crisis, Eddie needed to prove to himself that he was capable, but Richie needed someone to be there for him. He saw Richie as his brother, though maybe not as close of a brother as Stan. No matter how little they interacted when Richie was focused on annoying the other two, he always considered Richie to be his little brother.  
“That’s not…” Richie trailed off when Bill looked up from his shoes with tears in his eyes.  
Richie stared at him analytically for a moment. One thing people didn’t know about Richie, and something the people who knew him best often forgot, was that Richie was very emotionally intelligent, unless he got too wrapped up in his humor or his own head. It was only his response to the emotions he easily perceives that could use some work because he saw humor as the cure for everything.  
After a moment of studying Bill’s face, Richie’s shoulders sagged and his fists unclenched as he stared with wide, surprised eyes. Bill had a moment to relax before he was almost knocked backwards, arms full with a sniffling Trashmouth.  
“Sorry for saying what I did,” Richie mumbled into Bill’s shoulder.  
Bill rested his head on Richie’s. “I’m s-sorry for h-hurting you,” he replied.  
“I-” Bill’s voice broke and he had to take a few breaths before continuing. “I’m the r-reason both my l-little brothers g-got hurt,” Bill sobbed, the truth he had been ignoring now exposed for everyone to see.  
Richie sobbed once and gripped the back of Bill’s shirt before responding.  
“What happened to Georgie wasn’t your fault. And I forgive you, I was being an asshole.”  
‘But it was my fault.’ Bill thought. ‘And I don’t forgive myself.’  
“You c-could never b-be enough of an a-asshole to d-deserve that, Richie,” he said instead.  
Richie didn’t answer nor did he let go.  
“We’ll stick with you no matter what,” Bill continued. “You’re more than just the funny man, and I could never hate you.”  
They stood in silence for a moment, gripping each other so tightly it was hard to breath.  
“Now say you love each other,” Stan said with a dry smile.  
“Yes, mom,” Richie snarked back, his voice muffled slightly from where it was buried in Bill’s shirt.  
“I love you, Rich,” Bill said quietly, trying to put as much sincerity into his voice as possible.  
“I love you too, Big Bill,” Richie responded after a moment of hesitation.  
Richie gave Bill one last squeeze before pulling away.  
“T-Thanks for saving m-me down there,” Bill said.  
“It’d be impossible to piss me off enough for me to let you die.”  
“W-we’re all alive,” Bill said, sounding as though he just realized this.  
“Thank fuck for that. Although that means my last will and testament won’t be read and Mrs. K will never find out that she was more than a mere fling to me.”  
Eddie groaned. “Way to ruin the moment, asshole.”  
“Don’t be jealous, Eds. I was planning on leaving plenty of my stuff to you, my would be stepson.”  
“Okay, first of all-”  
“You did good, Bill,” Stan whispered to him, distracting him from the bickering going on in front of him.  
“I j-just told the t-truth,” Bill said, blushing and shuffling slightly in response to Stan’s approving smile.  
They watched Eddie continue to yell at Richie, who just pinched the shorter boy’s cheek in response.  
“Stan, w-why does Richie th-think we’ll leave him?”  
Stan looked at Bill before turning back to watch Eddie and Richie with a meaningful look Bill didn’t understand.  
“There are a couple reasons. Maybe the repressed moron will even tell one of us about them one day.” Stan paused as though to say more, but then started walking away. “We should catch up with our idiot family before they draw too much attention in town.”  
Bill looked back at the decrepit house that he now knew he would never be able to rescue Georgie from. Then he grabbed Silver and followed his other little brother and the rest of his family.


End file.
